Story of life

aikido learned through teachings, from one sensei to his students and then this students become a teacher and teach more people. The basics are simple and firm. I think it’s very easy to understand and comprehend it. Anyone can learn.

But beyond that simpleness lies so much knowledge and deep philosophy ready to be grasp by those who study aikido; knowledge about the concept of attack and defense, human body anatomy and physiology, concept of inner strength ( ki) which is developed through breathing exercise and physical exercise, body and mind coordination, even phsycological behaviour of the student may be influenced through practice.

But these knowledge, these consciousness, even though it is shown by the teacher, you cannot master it just by knowing it. your mind and body must feel them through practice. Until now, the common way of practicing is by a repetitive practice. The built system nowadays is not so much different to the way O Sensei taught his students on his living days. Start from something simple and keep doing it repetitively, and it will evolve to something so complex that it reach your daily life and people surrounding you. Eventually aikido inside you will be in harmony with the universe.

“Beginnings 2”

Teachers can bring
our attention to new knowledge. Teachers, however, don’t embody this knowledge
for us. Only we can do this.

It is easy to
write about, read about, or talk about concepts such as centering, receiving,
blending, living in the moment, and living in the flow. It takes personal
effort to incorporate such knowledge and awareness into our techniques. But it takes a much greater effort to take
this knowledge out of the context of the dojo or the written word and make it
workable in all aspects of our lives.

In aikido
training, we may begin with some preconceived notions of what we want to get
out of the endeavor or what we would like to see in the final product. For
example, on a very narrow scale we may be focused on learning how to execute a
list of techniques. Our focus may be purely on the outcome of each technique –
perhaps seeing an opponent pinned or cast off in some way. When we focus on the
end we lose sight of the process by which we get to the end. In the process by which we get from the
beginning to the end there are observations to be made and lessons to be
learned. There is a flow which can eventually become intuitive, and if we
are succesful, we may be able to find a similar flow in the way we experience
our lives.

Aikido for Self
Discovery

Page 9-10

Stan Wrobel, Ph.D.
3^rd Dan blackbelt.

Bagian ini, Stan
Wrobel mencoba menunjukkan bahwa bisa atau tidaknya seseorang memahami aikido
dari tekniknya bukan karena siapa senseinya, melainkan bergantung pada
bagaimana masing-masing pribadi kita berani merubah cara pandang kita terhadap
suatu teknik. Fokus perhatian kita seharusnya mulai bergeser, bukan lagi pada
dampak dari suatu teknik tertentu terhadap lawan saja, tetapi pada proses sejak
teknik dimulai. Di situlah terdapat pelajaran-pelajaran sebenarnya yang bisa
kira peroleh yang hanya bisa didapat apabila kita mulai memperhatikan dan
mengobservasi proses lebih jauh untuk kemudian, intisari itu bisa kita gunakan
dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari.

Untuk itu –
sedikit masukan untuk para aikidoka baru – kita tidak lagi terpana hanya pada
suatu teknik karena apa yang teknik itu bisa lakukan pada lawan kita, tetapi
lebih fokus pada setiap gerakan yang kita lakukan. Alur apa yang tersirat di
dalamnya.

Selamat
berobservasi.

“Beginnings”

Learning is a process of gaining knowledge and assimilating this knowledge into a usable understanding. And learning leads to a mastery of skills. Within the art of Aikido there are, for example, the codified techniques that characterize the art, and within these techniques are implied lessons that go deeper and deeper. To be able to execute the techniques, we learn something about the way our body moves and we explore new ways to make such movement more efficient and effective. We learn that enhanced effectiveness comes from an enhanced awareness of ourselves within an environment, and of lines of force that are coming from the opponent. We learn that our breath supports movement, and gaining mastery of this coordination becomes another level of learning. We start to acquire an appreciation of subtle muscular, structural, and neurological activities, and we learn how to integrate these refinements into our techniques. We find the power of the large muscles of the trunk and the control of the finer muscles of our extremities. We arrive at our center, that area within the lower abdominal region, from where we learn to intiate all our movements.
These are just some of the different levels that we must arrive at in our physical learning process. Mastery, however, doesn’t come all at once. When skill at one level becomes more automatic, we can then focus our attention on some other aspect of our art that will lead us to greater refinement and ease of expression. Old knowledge supports further exploration and progression.

Aikido for Self Discovery
Page 5-6

Stan Wrobel, Ph.D. 3rd Dan blackbelt.

Ketika saya membaca paragraf pertama, saya pikir Stan Wrobel telah melakukan hal yang hebat dengan memaparkan pengalaman pribadinya pada masa-masa awal ia bergumul dengan aikido dengan cara yang baik dan rapi. Setiap langkah terekam dengan baik, sehingga dapat menjadi suatu panduan perspektif untuk masing-masing aikidoka dalam memulai pergumulan mereka dengan aikido.
Beberapa poin yang kita pelajari, seperti:

1. Kemampuan tubuh kita bergerak dan dari situ mencari cara supaya tubuh kita bisa bergerak dengan lebih efisien dan efektif.

2. Bahwa gerakan akan menjadi semakin efektif disebabkan oleh tingkat kesadaran yang tinggi akan tubuh kita di tengah-tengah sekeliling kita, dan juga kekuatan-kekuatan yang masuk dari lawan.

3. Nafas kita akan membantu gerakan tubuh kita menjadi lebih baik, dan semakin baik koordinasi antara keduanya berarti pemahaman kita terhadap teknik akan menjadi lebih baik.

4. Kita mulai menyadari akan adanya fungsi otot, posisi tubuh, dan titik saraf, untuk kemudian kita gunakan ketiga poin ini ke dalam teknik kita.

5. Kita juga semakin menyadari bahwa  penggunaan otot yang berlebihan sebaiknya dihindari.

6. Keberadaan pusat dari tubuh kita yang berada di area sekitar perut bawah. Pusat tersebut menjadi titik awal mula semua gerakan dalam teknik.

Poin-poin ini pun dinyatakan barulah sebagian kecil dari begitu dalamnya pelajaran-pelajaran yang tersimpan di dalam seni aikido. Dengan harapan kita tidak pernah berhenti mencari dan memperbaiki diri.

belum lama, aji iseng baca-baca tulisan2 yang aji buat di beberapa buku catatan pribadi. banyak hal yang teringat kembali,… jadi sedih. melihat lagi jalan yang sudah dilalui, begitu banyak kejadian yang …. bikin sedih.
apalagi kalau ternyata sampai hari ini, masih dirasakan. sebagai orang yang sedikit perfeksionis, rasanya pengen bisa balik lagi, perbaiki, karena begitu banyak orang yang sedih.
kacau nih..

it’s connecting ur ki with ur opponent’s. it’s easily describe as when ur opponent grab u and u response with a technic, at ur first movement, ur opponent still holding ur hand. his/her grab doesn’t slip off from ur hand. in a way, u still control ur opponent. continuing ur first movement, u slightly change position from his/her holding ur hand, to u holding his/her hand. so the ki is still connected. right now, u gain more control.
on the first movement, if the opponent lost his/her grab on ur hand, then u lost control over ur opponent. so then u might expect another strike coming, which is very dangerous.
it’s a form of control over ur opponent. very important.

on a flight back to jakarta

what is it with love and loyalty??
where to they both stand in mutual relationship.. how does each of both works??
let’s make a case: when someone love somebody else, will he/she be loyal to his/her partner?
it becomes complicated when the love is not meant to be.
let’s make an opposite case: when someone is very loyal to his/her partner, does he/she loves his/her partner??
in a common situation, the answer is always yes. but hey… it’s a real and complicated world we are live in. you might expect a different answer. it’s not a typical no answer, but with a lot of words come along. sad but true.
i think i don’t need to elaborate more of this. any comment on this one??

a woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t

a man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does.

my friend once asked me about her job… she has a great job… good career. good industry. good people. good salary. but there’s so much intense pressure on office politics… me myself cannot imagine how worse that condition might be. so then, she was considering to accept another offer, a new place for work… the problem is … she hesitate…
so i said : how do u feel about ur current job… ? oo.. those pressures are nothing to me… i’m very well fit in… ; if this is how she feel, then why bother considering? the question should be asked is : is this the future that i want? because once u take the path … it’s goes to your future.. right??
well, my thought is.. that she is a professional. not an enterpreuneur. a professional is looking for a higher salary, safer jobs, and career.
and i actually felt that i have given her a good advice… (",

what is maturity?? a friend of mine asking this question for sometimes and still unable to answer. truely, i cant answer it either… and i dont feel like i need to answer that because i think the knowledge (answer) will not make life easier. will it expands ur vision in life?? i dont think so. i think it will only add more words to your vocabulary.
how can you judge someone mature or not?
i think maturity is mere a word meaning ur aging, getting older, physically.
what about mentally? i rather use wisdom.

dan sungai yang mengalir ke samudera
dan ombak yang menjemput di muara
ialah cinta yang tak pernah alpa
ketulusan tak putus ditikam musim
jarak menyebarkan rindu dalam rahim
bagai unggun api yang terus menyala
angin pun tak kuasa memadamkannya!!

-Toto ST Radik-